Iranian authorities target Internet, media before elections

New York, June 13, 2013--Iranian authorities
have intensified their crackdown on the Internet, including on media outlets
and journalists, in the days leading up to Friday's presidential election, the
Committee to Protect Journalists said today. Several opposition websites have reported
being briefly hacked, while Google issued a statement on Wednesday that said
tens of thousands of Gmail accounts of Iranian users had been targeted.

"The Internet is an indispensable tool for
journalists, and these attacks demonstrate the contempt with which Iranian officials
view independent information," said CPJ Executive Director Joel Simon. "With an
election on Friday, the Iranian people cannot make informed choices unless
journalists are free to cover all perspectives."

The sites, which are critical of the
regime and conservative factions in the country, were inaccessible for several
hours today. The websites for the Communist Party of Iran, the Voice of the
Green Wave, and the Defender of Human Rights all remained down at the time of this publication.

The BBC reported that
the sites had been hacked by a group calling itself "The Unknown Cyber Jihad." The group claims it is affiliated with Hezbollah,
and its logo includes Hezbollah's infamous raised arm wielding an automatic
rifle.

The websites were defaced with the message, "There
is no safe margin for speakers of nonsense and enemy mercenaries. Wherever you
are, you are within the shooting range of Hezbollah forces."

Another group, the "Persian Flag Guards," claimed
credit for hacking Defenders of Human Rights. It
is not clear if they are related to the Unknown Cyber Jihad.

Two other opposition news websites may have been
hacked today. The website of Iran e-Sabz temporarily
read "Shut up, dude" in Farsi on its home page, and the homepage of JARAS read "Site is updating" in Farsi. Both sites are
now operating normally.

In a related episode, Google issued a statement on Wednesday that said tens of thousands of Iranian
citizens' Gmail accounts had been targeted in a series of phishing campaigns,
which trick users into clicking a link to a fake Web page
to deceive them into providing vital information. The Google statement said the company had "detected
and disrupted multiple email-based
phishing campaigns aimed at compromising the accounts" of Iranian users.

Google said the cyberattacks originated
from within Iran and that their timing suggests they "are politically motivated in connection with
the Iranian presidential election." Targeted users were alerted by Google that their
accounts "could be at risk of state-sponsored attacks."

Iranian authorities have also continued their crackdown on local journalists and their families. Hesameddin Eslamloo, the culture and arts editor of Pasargad, a reformist weekly, was arrested on June 11, according to news reports. Eslamloo's
whereabouts or any charges against him were not disclosed.

The BBC reported that at least 15 family members of its employees had been summoned
by Iranian authorities and told that they could lose their jobs and pensions
and be barred from traveling abroad because of the journalists' work. In a statement today, the broadcaster condemned the
"unprecedented levels of intimidation" of its employees by the Iranian
government.

The Iranian government has imposed particularly strong restrictions on the Internet
in the months leading up to the election. CPJ reported yesterday that Internet speeds had slowed to a crawl
within the country and that several news, social media, and video websites had
been blocked, including CPJ's website. CPJ found that the government has
intensified its use of deep packet inspection, a process by which it
scrutinizes data sent over domestic networks, and blocked the ports used by
Virtual Private Networks, which are a tool used to circumvent government
censors.